Dimitri Returns
by mParis
Summary: So it's another 'Dimitri tells Rose his love has faded' story, but this time it is Dimitri that left and Rose who stayed strong. How will she react when he comes back - and she gets stuck living with him for 3 weeks! First FF, please give it a try.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so this is my first story! I'm pretty pumped about it!**

**The basic summary is;**

**After telling Rose that 'Love fades' Dimitri moves to Russia for 6 months. Now he is back, how will Rose cope. Queen was never murdered.**

**It will have some angst, romance in later chapters, but for now it is just an intro and repairing the lost frienship between Rose and Dimitri.**

**Enjoy!**

**PS. Richelle Mead owns VA and, despite my day-dreams, my birth certificate stubbornly insists that isn't my name**

* * *

><p>I sat in the Royal Court airport, watching the plane I had just disembarked fly off again, and tried to work out my next move. My baggage, including my wallet and all forms of identification, had been lost. You are probably wondering, 'How the Hell did you get on and off a plane without any passport, plane ticket andor wallet?' and the answer is crazy new flying rules. After last week's suicide bombing attempt, which thankfully was stopped in time, the terrified Moroi barely allow you to claim the clothes on your back as hand-luggage, let alone a wallet. For safety reasons, they now take everything and, after extensive security searches, put it in the hull of the aircraft. Except that they obviously didn't do that with my luggage. I couldn't sign into my hotel room, I couldn't go to Lissa, Rose, or any of my friends from before (though that was my own fault), Tasha was away and the only Guardian I had left on good terms with had a heavily pregnant wife. Basically, I was screwed. After some deliberation, I decided that John and his pregnant wife were the best choice; at least I may be of aid if an ambulance needed calling.

Even after staying in Baia for 6 months, I found Court as familiar as always and I arrived at the Guardian quarters in no time. I wondered why my dear friends still lived here, Alana, John's Moroi wife, was loosely related to the Conta family, and wasn't the type for small, if well decorated, Guardian apartments. I knocked on the door, hoping I was not causing too much trouble and cursing my flight for landing at midnight. My banging was met with familiar grumbling, but even that couldn't prepare me for who opened the door "Rose? What are you doing here?"  
>"Was about to ask that myself." She said stiffly, her initial confusion turning to resentment.<br>"Look, I'm sorry, wrong apartment, please forgive me-"  
>"-Who are you looking for?" she interrupted, only slightly less annoyed but relatively curious<br>"Ah, John and Alanna Michaels, but I realise I have the wrong place." I said apologetically  
>"No, this is their place, I am just house-sitting, they wanted to have the baby in New York with Alana's family present," Rose looked me up and down, noticing my bedraggled, pitiful state for the first time, through her sleepy stupor. Then, she did the unbelievable; she smiled.<br>"Belikov, you look tired, homeless, cold and defeated, and it is raining, though that will soon turn to hail or snow." My silence confirmed her suspicions, so she continued,  
>"Since John is coming back tomorrow, to child-proof the house I believe, you can stay and talk to him then if you like. Anyway, he would probably kick me out if I didn't offer you the couch." She was still grinning slightly, probably at the obscurity of this situation. I had forgotten how beautiful she was, especially with a smile to light up her eyes. I slapped myself mentally, I was working very hard not to notice her body, her hair, her- Anyway, I was trying not to notice her beauty because if I slipped up once, the floodgates would open and all my love and affection for her would come out. Feelings she no longer reciprocated.<br>I gratefully accepted her offer and, once I had set up a bed of sheets on the couch near the heater, under Rose's wary eye, I fell asleep immediately.

* * *

><p><strong>Hi everyone, this is my first chapter of my first fanfic, so please R&amp;R! It is short but my others will be longer. Encouragement would be appreciated but i can take critism. Please tell me whether or not i should continue<strong>  
><strong>Thank you for reading<strong>

mParis


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, after much confusion over how to operate fanfiction (don't laugh, I am new at this) the real second chapter has been posted!**

**DISCLAIMER - Even in the second chapter, I STILL don't own VA**

* * *

><p>I was having a nice dream, something about a long-forgotten training session with Rose, when my snooze was rudely interrupted<br>"GUESS WHO BROUGHT DONUTS!" called A Voice  
>It was answered by a scream of delight and the bang of a door being opened with too much force. At this point, I was forced to accept that sleep was impossible.<br>I pulled myself from the comfy, double-stuffed designer couch, which made my bed at home look rather humble. I'd had one of my best sleeps in quite a while last night – now off to find the person who interrupted it. As a turned the corner into the living room, I discovered the culprit, and bringer of food, Rose's boyfriend.

Michael was nice enough, but he did not deserve Roza. He was up himself, and honestly, I even preferred Ivashkov to him. I tried to turn back, but he had seen me already-

"What are you doing here Belikov?" Though he hid it under fake niceties, his tone obviously said 'Back off, this is my territory.' Of course, this did nothing but earn him a scowl from Rose, who caught the real meaning just as clearly as I did.

"I am back on business, but due to circumstances out of my control, I was left homeless last night, Rose was kind enough to over me the couch." I would have liked to say that Rose offered me half of her bed, but that may not have gone down so well.

In response, Michael just nodded, his face calculating, and Rose ushered him to the kitchen before he could start a fight over nothing. I wandered why she put up with him, but a little voice in the back of my head already knew the answer. He wouldn't leave her like Adrian and I had, though Adrian was much less culpable than I. For one, he gave her a plenty of notice that he was returning to college and, only after they realized that they couldn't sustain a long distance relationship, did they decide to part on amicable terms. Michael was nice (to her at least), in a good financial state and a well-known figure who could help repair her damaged reputation. He was sensible, if jealous at times, devoted and, most importantly, for the first time in awhile, Rose was dating someone and no one had any objections about it.

While I was contemplating how much better he was, my empty stomach decided to get my attention, in the form of a loud gurgle. I unfroze from where I was standing and mustered up the courage to eat breakfast with Rose and Michael, until I heard them giggling; it seemed I was going hungry this morning.

Gone out to see old friends , will be back to talk to John  
>D-<p>

Satisfied with my note, I left the apartment, not sure where my mindless dawdling would lead me to.

Rose's POV

"Okay, I will call you later, I promise!"  
>I said with fake enthusiasm as I shut the door on Mike. He was so annoying! Prancing around like I was his girlfriend and he owned me, worst of all, people had started believing him. Still, just one more pain-staking month of being his friend and I would become Lissa's guardian. I knew that I was already one of the most likely candidates and by the thirtieth of June, when she would officially be assigned replacement guardians for dear Serena and Grant, I would make sure I was the obvious choice. One more month, I could do that.<p>

Deep down, I knew that I was becoming obsessive; I thought, lived and breathed work. I wasn't sure what else to do though, Lissa was always busy with politician-y things, Eddie was in Alaska with his new charge, Adrian was at college and Dimitri... Dimitri flew halfway around the world to get away from me. So I threw myself into my work, pushing and pulling my way to the top, doing anything to be assigned to my best friend. As I was reflecting, I found Dimitri's note, reminding me of another dilemma I had to face.

I wasn't sure what I thought about Dimitri being back. He made it very obvious that he didn't love or want me, but with us living under the same roof, I felt I should at least attempt to repair our shattered friendship. We hadn't spoken since he returned but tonight, I promised I would attempt to change that.

* * *

><p><strong>So far, I am still introducing the story, I promise the chapter will soon start getting longer and more meaningful.<strong>  
><strong>Please feel free to leave comments on how I can improve my writing andor ideas if you feel like it**  
><strong>Thank you for reading <strong>

**mParis**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey dearest readers! One thing I have learnt from FF is that A/Ns are not my forte. Not only have I made spelling mistakes in both of my previous ones, I also forgot the disclaimer!**

**Once I am finished this little rant, I shall go back and fix those, but for now... **

**DISCLAIMER. For anyone who has not yet noticed, I am not the amazing Richelle Mead, I am but a mere Year 8 lawfully stealing her ideas.**

**And, of course, no update would be complete without a terrible excuse for why it took me so long to UD**

*INSERT CRAPPY EXCUSE OF CHOICE*

**Finally, MERRY almost CHRISTMAS and on with the show**

Dimitri POV

I was eventually forced to accept that all my 'mindless wandering' had achieved was getting me wet. In fact, 'wet' was an understatement, I was frozen and soaked to the bone. Court could be a lovely place with idyllic weather, but not in winter, and especially not in the rainiest winter ever recorded. So for the second time in as many days, I trudged glumly towards John's apartment. And again, as I knocked on the door, I really hoped he was actually there.  
>Thankfully, this time the familiar face that greeted me was that of my oldest friend.<p>

"Dimitri, buddy, how you doing?"

"Well thank you, is Rose here?" He smiled knowingly. Oops, I hadn't meant to be so forward about my curiosity. Oh well, he knew about my 'relationship' with Roza, if it could still be called that, and was supportive.

"She will be back soon; I sent her out so that I could talk to you. Now come help me set up the play area and let us talk about why you are back and what you want to accomplish." I rolled my eyes

"Yes, DAD!" I scoffed - he had 'caring yet condescending father' down pat, he had probably stopped asking for directions too, or maybe that was just a stereotype for men in general...

John led me to a room I hadn't seen yet, of course, I'd barely seen any of the apartment save the lounge room. This new room turned out to be amazing; the kind of room I would want for my children, if I ever had any. One of the walls was a mural of the sunny country side, so that even during our 'daytime', the sun would be shinning. The other walls were a soft, comforting cream colour and were lined with baby accessories such as a matching blue bookcase, crib and changing table. The carpet was incredibly soft, some might say 'as soft as a baby's bottom', and as thick as carpet came.

And right in the back corner sat possibly the most comfortable armchair that ever was. I knew this because it is an heirloom that used to adorn their lounge room in Baia. I had sat in the big, overstuffed chair many a time and, no matter how interesting or intelligent the conversation around me, it always sent me straight into a blissful slumber.

After two hours of hard labour, there was absolutely no way that even the most accident prone child could injure themselves. Then again, they also said that there was absolutely no way the Titanic would sink...

Anyway, the house was safe, and now John and I were talking about Rose.

"Well you should tell her! A bad reaction is better than never knowing!" John explained for a third time, just as I was about to reply, yet again, that it was no longer my place to do so, we heard the tell-tale sound of a door slamming, and we froze.

"Hey guys! I have food!"

* * *

><p>Rose POV<p>

"Hey guys! I have food." I called loudly, but was met with silence.

"I know you're here and I'm going to eat these pizzas single-handedly if you don't hurry up." Silence again.

I trudged towards the back of the house, wondering what on Earth they were up to. There I found Dimitri and John, both looking as though they had been caught committing a heinous crime. I couldn't be bothered working out what they had been doing or saying; I wasn't going to play Mum around two people far more mature than myself.

"We were just talking about what to do with Dimitri since he doesn't have anywhere to stay, and no current form of income." John covered badly; I really had to give these two lessons on lying. Still, I played along.

"Well he can stay with me and Adrian I guess, or here." I suggested, realising only after I said it that my ex and current boyfriend might not be quite so happy under one roof, and anyway, Adrian was currently staying on campus at college.

"Wait. You're dating Adrian!" Dimitri stated incredulously.

"Do you have a problem with that?" I think he was blushing, very out of character for Mr. Guardian Mask, I guess spending 6 months with a large family of women could affect anyone.

"No, no, of course not, I just misinterpreted something." He mumbled, I rolled my eyes, but on the inside I was smiling. Before I could unleash a witty comeback, John's phone rang.

"Hey Darling – What! I'll be there as soon as possible! Just hang on one second. I love you!" He screamed elatedly into the expensive looking mobile, practically jumping off the walls. Mood swing much?  
>"Alana's water just broke, and it's really early! I trust you two to look after the apartment while I'm gone! Dimitri, check when the next plane leaves directly from Court to Pittsburgh. Rose, speak to her encouragingly while I grab my bags!" He said, his voice becoming more distant near the end as he sprinted towards the master bedroom.<p>

Dimitri pulled another expensive phone from his pocket – was I the only one with a normal phone – and logged on to the internet,

"Why does he want a flight to Pittsburgh?" I wondered aloud as Dimitri handed me John's phone with his spare hand, as John had haphazardly thrown it over his shoulder in the rush.

"I believe that is where Alana's sister lives," he replied distractedly, as I brought Alana's screaming voice towards my ear.

After a frantic half-hour of running around and lots of calming words on my behalf, John had boarded the right plane and Alana's family had been alerted that the birth was not happening in New York, as originally planned, but in the steel city. As we waved off the ascending aeroplane, knowing full well that he couldn't _actually_ see us, an immense feeling of relief surrounded us both; the last hysterical 30 minutes had been worth it and he would make it to his wife in time for the birth.

While I felt relieved, I also felt rather tired, once the adrenaline had left my body. Too exhausted to mount my walls, I grabbed Dimitri's hand in an amicable fashion and pulled him through the swarm of bodies who threatened to separate us.

Back at John's apartment, I finally realised that I was probably going to be sharing it with Dimitri, at least until further notice. That didn't count as cheating right? Well, I'd hear from Adrian tonight in my dreams anyways.

* * *

><p>Dimitri POV<p>

As we re-entered John's sophisticated apartment, Rose seemed deep in thought. I couldn't believe that she was still holding my hand, it was like a dream and I prayed I would never wake up. It did however confuse me, within under two days I had wrongly assumed she was with Mike, found out she was officially dating Adrian and now, here I was holding her hand and moving in with her.

To distract myself and pull her from her reverie, I began making hot chocolates. As expected, when I had chocolate, Rose suddenly became very attentive, and I took this chance to initiate our first real conversation since I uttered those horrible, regretful words over half a year ago.

"So how are you?" Real original Dimitri, I chastised myself. Oh well, at least I could build on it.

"Well thanks; though I've been rather busy, what with Lissa's guardian assignments coming up."

"She hasn't been allotted personal guardians yet?"

"No, that won't happen until next month." And like that we fell back into our normal banter, focusing on life at Court, Lissa and any other comfortable, non-provocative subject.

"So, we have analysed my life over the last 6 months, but how have you been Dimitri?" Horrible, I've missed you more than you could possible imagine I answered, but that was the wrong answer, never to leave my thoughts.

"Oh I've been pretty good. I caught up with my family, I let them know about everything you did for me, and they insisted you call them as soon as possible." I announced light-heartedly, and yet something in Rose's expression suddenly changed.

Ignoring it, I suddenly became very interested in resurrecting the cold, greasy pizzas that had smelt so appetising just an hour before.

* * *

><p><strong>Well now you have read my chapter and you are back where you started - the AN**

**For the next chapter I'm thinking about some Rose angst over Dimitri or Adrian, because I have already avoided that for as long as possible, but if you have anything you would like me to add, do share **

**MERRY XMAS! AND THANX FOR READING!**

**mParis**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello all! I apologise profusely for my absense but my poor beta, the lovely Isabella Rain, is stuck somewhere at the bottom of the world on an Australian state named Tasmania. She is there for school and is either without internet, or to depressed from the near-constant rain the get back to me. **

**Anyway, I have decided the show must go on and uploaded this unbetaed chapter, so I apologise also in advance for any mistakes.**

**DISCLAIMER - Sorry, I am not the lovely rangga (said non-derogatively) who invented the main characters whom I use for my own twisted plot, all cred to Richelle Mead**

Sonya's POV (Dimitri's sister)

As I sat slouched behind the counter of the small, run-down drugstore where I worked, I couldn't help but zone out. While this period near the end of my 6 hour shift was always the worst, today was made especially torturous when my colleague Valera had called in sick, forcing me to work through my lunch break.

With every passing second, my exhausted brain was concentrating less and less on customers and more on personal matters. Usually, I am the perky, happy-to-help type but after last night, my attitude was quite the opposite.

My niece and nephew, Zoya and Paul, whom I was baby-sitting, had consumed high quantities of sugar and, paired with my own little girl who cried until all hours, meant all hopes of sleeping were abandoned.

Despite her apparent dislike of sleeping, I adored my baby girl. I'm not going to lie and say the pregnancy was easy; what with _being single_ and _far too young_ only at the tip of my personal ice-berg. And much like the titanic, I didn't even think about the rest of the problems until after the full-speed collision. But once I worked past everything, silently and stoically as is the Belicova way, I realised how much fun being a mum would be.

By the time my bundle of joy was born, I was completely prepared and everyone says I took to parenting like a duck to water. Surprisingly, naming her had been the hardest part for me, my inner romanticist pinning for someone to share the experience with, and it was not until mere days before I went into labour that I finally decided on one; Izabella Roza Belikov. It was only fair that I honoured Dimitri's saviour, especially when he didn't seem able to do so himself.

I was both shocked and elated when my supposedly dead brother turned up in time for Izabella birth and even happier when he stayed around for awhile, but we all knew that he had to go back. He had a life in America, and no matter how long he put it off, he would never be happy until he resurrected his hard-earned reputation and his relationship with the woman who'd changed him so much.

So we waved him off, and Baia went back to its dull routines, people worked and ate and slept as always, but I think that Rose and Dimitri's story had captured the town, and secretly we all prayed for their fairytale come true.

Rose POV

_Spirit Dream_

"Hey Babe, long time no see." Adrian greeted, pulling me in for a passionate kiss. While it was lovely, it was slightly off, like all our kisses these days, still I merely blocked out the rational part of my brain (as I do so often) and smiled flirtingly back at him.

"How was college this week?" I asked, as I always did, and like every other time, he replied  
>"It would have been better if you were there," before pressing his lips gently against mineyet again, but there was no passion, no spark. God it was hard never getting to see your boyfriend! The whole reason he enrolled at Lehigh was so that we would be together in the first place! Of course, life got in the way as per usual. Lissa decided to take a year off to get her life in order, but Adrian's parents felt this was their last chance at him furthering his education and refused to let him postpone college <em>again. <em>When they started threatening to cut him off, I insisted he start without me, we would be together again soon.

At first daily spirit dreams kept us going strong, but neither of us were made for long-distance relationships and, what with all the stress in both our lives, we ended up having these weekly, unemotional, to-the-script meetings.

"Dimitri came back yesterday." I said off-hand, as though I was making small talk, but I really was worried about his feelings on Dimitri and I _living_ in the same house, even if it was only for 3 more weeks until Adrian, and co-indecently John's family, came home for winter break. Normally, I wouldn't give a damn about what anyone thought of Dimitri and I, but Adrian mattered more than just anyone, and lately I have become paranoid about losing him.

Reading my aura, he just gave me a look that said 'spill' and I caved, hurriedly telling him how this absurd situation came around. Once I finished, he observed me for a minute more before saying,

"I'm not mad Rose. I know that you'll always crave his friendship; I don't need to read auras to know that. As long as you are faithful, which I know you are, I have no reason to be mad. Anyway, you two need to work out your problems so that you can move on, and the only way to do that is by talking and listening" I was touched by his kindness, especially after how we had been treating each other over the past month, and yet my pride couldn't help but feel wounded; I'd obviously lost the pants in this relationship.

After that, we returned to our light banter, but it seemed much more personal than before. It had been an odd and rocky month in our relationship, but we would recover. While it was odd bonding with your boyfriend over your ex, I was glad that the awkward silences were gone.

Despite not really sleeping, due to chatting with Adrian, I felt much chirpier the next morning than I had in a while. I bounced down to breakfast and prepared a large stack of crepes. I remember the day when Christian told Lissa that he had finally taught me to cook; I swear he may well have announced that pigs can jump over the moon from the incredulous look on her face. When I voice my opinion, they laughed, saying the expression was when pigs can fly and cows can jump over the moon, but I stood by my beliefs.

Anyway, after another 3 months with firefly as my personal teacher, I was almost as good at preparing food as he was. My mental chitchat was interrupted by Dimitri moaning in appreciation at the aromas wafting from the kitchen, and then stopping short when he realised who was cooking. Mostly from surprise I assume, but also with wariness from my abruptly ending conversation at dinner last night. I felt bad for that but talking about his family had struck a chord in my messed-up heart and I hadn't known how to respond, so I didn't. I turned with a big smile on my face, an unspoken apology, and offered him some of the delicious-looking crepes. He accepted easily.

As always with us, no communication was needed as we set the table in sync, before he brought over the towering plate of hot crepes and I fetched the cream, choc-spread, syrup, ice-cream and, for Dimitri, some fruit and berries.

Conversation started light and joking, him making jabs at me actually waking early and me teasing him for wearing a duster to breakfast, but conversation soon turn turned to more serious topics, such as his career.

"I don't know Rose, what can I do? My reputation is in shreds and I'm sure people still assume me to be Strigoi." He replied with a hint of helplessness in his voice, I also noticed he flinched when he said the last word, obviously not over it yet. It tore me up to see the strongest person I knew like this. _Rose, you're with Adrian!_ Warned an internal voice but I ignored it. After all, Adrian himself suggested we talk out our problems, and this was obviously one of his.

"Dimitri, you know I forgive you for everything that's happened. And I was never angry for what happened in Russia in the first place." He looked at me like I'd sprouted another head.

"You mean that! Why? I- The things I did were horrible."

"You were not yourself as a Strigoi, and Lissa has explained to me that you were still hurting when you got back. I now know that I can be happy with Adrian, love fades right? I just hope we can still be friends." 'Very prolific Rose,' an inner voice commended me; now if only I believed that second half...

Dimitri POV

When those words left her mouth, the oddest feeling came over me. On one hand, I was ecstatic that she accepted me, that she forgave me. My sceptic side continued to insist that she couldn't –wouldn't– forgive me, not now nor ever. And yet, when I looked into her eyes, I knew she was being truthful, I always could read her.

But then, I realised that she really had moved on, and the small, hopeful part I hadn't been able to discourage over the last 6 month was suddenly crushed in the most painful of ways.

Conversation dipped for a while before she suddenly said,

"Oh, about your job, I am currently I line to be Lissa's head Guardian, and I have gained quite a lot of influence, so why don't you come to work with me today and I'll wheedle you into something good, I promise."

I smiled at her unvarying optimism "I know you will Roza, you can do anything," I muttered in Russian as I started to wash up the plates.

**Please review! It means a lot to know what you think of my story!**

**Thank-you for reading, mParis.**


End file.
